Reading matters

'Scoop' by Evelyn Waugh

Fiction - paperback; Penguin; 222  pages; 2000.

First published in 1938, Scoop is billed as one of the funniest novel ever written about journalism. Which says a lot: have you seen how many fiction books revolve around the Fourth Estate?

In this book, which is essentially a comedy of errors, we meet William Boot, who is mistaken for John Courtney Boot, an eminent writer, and is sent off to the African Republic of Ishmaelia to report on a little known war for the Daily Beast.

With no journalistic training and far out of his depth, Boot struggles to comprehend what it is he is being paid to do and makes one blunder after another all in the pursuit of hot news. In fact Booth is so out of his depth he does not even know how to write a telegram -- the main means of filing his reports to the London office (remember, this is long before the days of email or the internet or even decent telecommunications) -- much less what constitutes a news story.

'The Fourth Queen' by Debbie Taylor

Fiction  - paperback; Penguin; 496 pages; 2004

This is a sanguine, sexy tale set in a harem in Morocco.

It's based on the true story of Helen Gloag, who, fleeing the poverty of Scotland, finds herself on a ship bound for America. When the ship is captured by pirates, the young, inexperienced and prudish teenager is kidnapped and sold into slavery.

In the harem run by the cruel and charismatic Emperor Sidi Mohammed, Helen's world is turned completely upside down. From a naive waif with little sexual experience she becomes the emperor's fourth wife (hence the book's title) and lives a life that must have been totally unimaginable for a western woman in the 18th century.

'The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency' by Alexander McCall Smith

Fiction - paperback; Abacus; 256 pages; 2003

This book and the others in Mr McCall Smith's charming series seem to be flavour of the month right now.

The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency is certainly an intriguing and quaint book. The central character, Mma Ramotswe, is utterly lovely and especially kind-hearted and the setting of rural Botswana is wonderfully realised.

That's the good bit.

The bad bit, as far as I'm concerned, is the writing (which is far too simplistic for readers like me who enjoy being challenged) and the plot (which doesn't exist).

Each self-contained chapter reads like a series of short stories or anecdotes, which is fine if that's what you like reading, but I found myself becoming bored with this book very quickly. I also struggled to appreciate the stripped back prose which is childlike in its simplicity.

I think this book would appeal to those who don't read very often or to those over-tired readers who want something they can cruise through with their brain disengaged.

A pleasant enough read, but I won't be bothering with the rest of the titles in the series.